Faith begins where reason ends. Faith, at times, is eulogised as epitome of human virtue for being the mother of patience, perseverance and hard work required for success in any field. But it also poses a very real danger to reasoning, logic, quest for truth and fact-based approach to life. This too is detrimental to human growth.
From the beginning, the man has been engaged in search of ultimate truth. Earlier it did not have the tools, resources and knowledge that it has now. Because of lack of these resources; religion, another kind of faith, had the opportunity to intrude into almost all kinds of human activity, be it agriculture, morality, war and trade. Religion was based on imagination. And imagination is as endless as the universe itself. Religion dictated the shape of earth, moon and sun. And their positions. Religion defined morality, agricultural practices, social conduct, occurrence of festivals etc. As things improved, thanks to martyrdom of Giordano Bruno et al., boundaries of religion have started to shrink. In 1992, famously Pope John Pau II is said to have stated, ‘the clerics in times of Galileo mis -judged the boundary between the realms of faith and science.’ He also noted the incompatibility between the methods of science and religious faith.
Religion has also defined a person’s station in life. Sadly it continues to do so even in modern times, in India. It is the ‘caste system’. Earlier it used to restrict a person professionally. It did not allow a person to utilise his/ her full potential beyond the caste based trade he/ she was born into by just a quirk of fate. It confined a person’s avenues of profession miserably to the caste he/ she was born into. Thanks to modern legacy of the English, a robust democracy and fore vision of our leaders at helm, no trade, no profession, no sport is now restricted according to one’s caste.
And yet it thrives in the mindset of population. It is the cause of social strife. It is the cause of vote bank politics. It is the cause of honour killings of young loving couples. Surprisingly, at the bottom of our mind we all are aware that the caste system has no divine sanctity. It has no scientific sanctity too. The genes of a Brahmin are no different from that of a Mahar or that of any other caste. When will my motherland be free from this malaise? When we will start thinking and behaving like humans and not like caste based animals? One way may be to stop recognising caste in any form at any forum by the government. As it happens, government is, desirably or undesirably, very powerful influence in ordinary life of an Indian. Because of the vote bank politics, the political parties are not expected to make a beginning. Yes, judiciary can initiate and lead the way for this reform. Many a reforms in India have come through the rule of law. Like, abolition of ‘sati’, child marriage and untouchability. Like abolition of ‘triple talaq’ etc. Yes, judiciary can do it.
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